7 Responses to Ask a Theological Question (closed)

1) What does it mean when the gospel says that Jonh was the most beloved disciple?
2) Is there a reason to believe that the Blessed Mother was the first to see Jesus after the resurrection?
3) Were the prophecies of the Old Testaments all fulfilled?
4) What is the best approach to living ecumenism?
5) Was the paradise in heaven or here? Are we going to the same place where Adan and Eve were before the fall?
6) Can demons make us sin without our conscious cooperation?
7) In a battle between a saint or an angel and the most powerful demon, will the saint or angel always win?
8)There is no salvation outside of Catholic Church. Can we assume that everyone who is saved is Catholic implicitly or explicitly?

Thanks for all your work.
P.S.: Be free to answer only the questions you want to

1. The Gospel does not say “most” beloved disciple. The expression was probably added to the Gospel, after John’s death, by some of his disciples. The disciple Jesus loved is each one of us. In the Gospel, John stands as a figure for each devote follower of Jesus at all times in all places.
2. John Paul II said that he thought Mary was the first to know that Jesus rose, though Magdalene was the first to see Him in person.
3. Some OT prophecies pertain to the end times, so those have not yet been fulfilled.
4. We should love all persons, regardless of their religious beliefs, and admire all that is good in other religions. But we must always keep our own belief system distinct from others in the understanding that Catholicism is the most perfect form of religion on earth.
5. Adam and Eve before the Fall lived in a placed called Paradise or the Garden of Eden. That place is distinct from heaven, purgatory, hell, and earth. It is a discontinuous place, not found in this universe. It is called paradise as a figure of speech, since, before the Fall from grace, it was a place of holiness and love of God and others.
6. No. We only sin when we knowingly deliberately choose an immoral act. No one and nothing can make us sin. Demons have limited powers. God does not permit them to do whatever they would wish to do.
7. The Saints and holy Angels have the grace and other assistance of God. So the demons cannot win, in the end. However, this does not mean that a Saint or holy Angel will prevail in every immediate circumstance. As it says in the Book of Revelation: “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” Rev 13:7. So the Antichrist and the devils cooperating with him will be permitted, for a limited time, to overcome the saints and to govern the earth. Even so, the Church is never destroyed by them, and some holy persons continue and outlive the Antichrist and his wicked kingdom.
8. Yes, everyone who is saved is a member of the Catholic Church, at least implicitly.

Question 1: Are tattoos on a body considered venial or mortal sin?
Question 2: Are piercings of tongue, nose, or eyebrow, considered venial or mortal sin?
Question 3: Is plastic surgery for breasts enlargement considered a mortal or venial sin?

1. not intrinsically evil, so it depends on intention and circumstances. Same for #2 and #3.
2. Piercings are not necessarily sinful, e.g. ears pierced for earrings. Excessive alteration of the body for vanity is at least venially sinful.
3. A person might have breast implants to restore the normal form of the body after cancer surgery or a disfiguring accident; that would be moral. Doing to merely for vanity is at least a venial sin.
Any of the above things could be mortal sins, depending on intention and circumstances.

Ron,
Another Good Friday has come and gone and God’s mercy and grace on this sinful world, (worse than before the Flood according to Pedro Regis messages) continues before the upcoming chastisements. I really thought that this would be the year of the start of the secrets. The Virgin Mary stated in July 2, 2017, in Medjugorje, that “sins are multiplying and too numerous. But with the help of those of you who are humble, modest, filled with love, hidden and holy, my heart will triumph.”

I went to confession two times during Lent and there was hardly anyone in line. Yet, at Easter Mass, the Church was packed with the typical people who go to Mass only on special occasions and the Communion lines were long. Catholics have lost their sense of sin. One grave sin that nearly all of us commit on a daily basis is not loving God with all our hearts, minds, and soul. How many put God in the first place in their lives? How many of us the first thing in the morning are checking their smartphones instead of being on our knees in front of a cross and praying? How many pray for others in crowded subways? How many of us truly worship God and only give him thanks throughout the day?

I am in awe that God is so merciful and continues to give us more time. I pray for many of my relatives and friends that are fallen away Catholics. So many of them do not know what is coming soon upon the World and I have such fear for their eternal salvation. I just hope that when the chastisements occur that many permanently convert due to my prayers for them.